uncnews.unc.edu

Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:

International Coverage

Diet changes helpful for pregnancy diabetes
Canadian Broadcasting Centre
Treating mild diabetes that develops during pregnancy helps prevent serious problems that can occur when an infant gains too much weight, a new U.S. study suggests. ...About four per cent of pregnant women in the United States develop gestational diabetes, resulting in about 135,000 cases a year, said Dr. John Thorp, the study's author and a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
UNC Release:
http://www.unchealthcare.org/site/newsroom/news/2009/September/thorp

Treating mild gestational diabetes found worthwhile
Reuters (Wire Services)
Treating even mild forms of gestational diabetes helps cut the number of Cesarean sections and other serious problems that can occur when women carry larger-than-average babies, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday. ..."This study is important because it clearly indicates the value to mothers and their newborns of screening for and treatment of diabetes-like conditions provoked by pregnancy." Dr. John Thorp of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who worked on the study, said in a statement.

Cellphone ban for drivers coming in late October
The Guelph Mercury (Ontario, Canada)
Chatting on your cellphone while driving is still not safe, but neither is it illegal. ...“That’s the belief, but there is no evidence to support that,” said Rob Foss, a senior research scientist at the University of North Carolina’s Highway Safety Research Centre. “The danger of the phone is what it does to your brain, not what it does to your hands.

National Coverage

Ex-NFL players report higher rates of dementia
The Associated Press
Retired professional football players may have a higher rate than normal of Alzheimer's disease or other memory problems, suggests a preliminary study that provides more fuel for concerns about long-term risk of concussions. ...Another study of retired professional football players, published in 2005, found that a history of three or more concussions was associated with a boost in risk of mild cognitive impairment after age 50. Kevin Guskiewicz, lead author of that study and director of the Center for the Study of Retired Athletes at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, said the findings of the new study didn't surprise him.

Prescriptions now biggest cause of fatal drug overdoses
USA Today
...The number of overdose deaths from opioid painkillers — opium-like drugs that include morphine and codeine — more than tripled from 1999 to 2006, to 13,800 deaths that year, according to CDC statistics released Wednesday. ...There are lots of the drugs around, and they're relatively easy to get, says David Zvara, chair of anesthesiology at University of North Carolina Hospitals.

Regional Coverage

Advances made with digital mammography
The Milford Daily News (Massachusetts)
...The cancer institute study also found no difference in false positive rates between analog and digital mammograms, said Dr. Etta Pisano of the University of North Carolina, the lead investigator and a former Wayland and Newton resident. But in a subsequent cost-benefit paper, Pisano and her colleagues concluded that providing digital mammograms was not cost-effective for women outside the categories specifically cited by the cancer institute study. Digital machines cost more, and insurance companies typically provide higher reimbursements.

State and Local Coverage

Stimulus jolts Triangle science
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Triangle area researchers won a massive infusion of $145 million in federal stimulus money Wednesday for scientific projects large and small -- including an ambitious effort to seek cancer treatments by unraveling the complex genetics of tumors. ...One of the largest awards is headed to UNC-CH, which was tapped as one of 12 research institutions in the nation to receive a Cancer Genome Atlas Grant for research into the mechanisms of how cancer grows and spreads. That knowledge is crucial for developing new therapies and even cures.
Related Link:
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/campusnotes/stimulus
-funds-arrive-at-triangle-campuses
UNC Release:
http://cancer.unc.edu/news/2009/release0930/

UNC wins $20M grant for major cancer study
The Triangle Business Journal
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has won a Cancer Genome Atlas Grant, that could provide UNC as much as $20 million over the next five years. The grant, worth a minimum of $13 million, comes as the National Cancer Institute and the National Human Genome Research Institute work to characterize genomic changes that occur in cancer. UNC is one of 12 centers nationally working on the project.
Related Link:
http://www.wchl1360.com/detailswide.html?id=11962

UNC gets $8.6M award for new genetics center
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Autism, depression, anxiety. Antipsychotic drug side effects. What are the genetic and environmental factors that underlie and contribute to these complex problems? And how do genes and environment interact to shape them? To seek answers, the National Human Genome Research Institute and the National Institute of Mental Health has named UNC a Center of Excellence in Genomic Science and awarded the university $8.6 million over five years to fund a new Center for Integrated Systems Genetics, or CISGen.
Related Link:
http://www.wchl1360.com/detailswide.html?id=11957
UNC Release:
http://www.unchealthcare.org/site/newsroom/news/2009/September/cisgen

Study: Gestational diabetes better with treatment
WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh)
Kristen Dang had no family history of diabetes and no other risk factors, but she developed gestational diabetes while pregnant with her daughter, Iris. ...A new study at UNC Hospitals looked at whether treating the condition really improves the outcome. Dr. John Thorp, the study’s author, said treating the condition resulted in less weight gain, fewer Caesarean section sections, fewer hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and more babies, like Iris, born under 9 pounds.
UNC Release:
http://www.unchealthcare.org/site/newsroom/news/2009/September/thorp

UNC-CH delays capital campaign
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A year ago, UNC-Chapel Hill officials were basking in the glow of a recently completed fundraising drive that brought in $2.38 billion -- and already talking up the next campaign. The new target: $4 billion, which, if reached, would have placed UNC-CH in the company of only a handful of institutions that have set such a goal. ..."The strong headwinds have taken that conversation away for a while. The psyche of donors is still pretty fragile," said Matt Kupec, UNC-CH's vice chancellor for university advancement. "A lot of our donors have been stunned. Their portfolios have declined. But things will turn around again."

UNC says hacker got into fewer files than reported
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A hacker who accessed a UNC-Chapel Hill computer server may not have seen as much information as officials originally feared. UNC School of Medicine officials said last week that a security breach had exposed data related to as many as 236,000 women enrolled in a mammography study, including 163,000 Social Security numbers.
Related Link:
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/campusnotes/unc-security-
breach-less-severe-than-thought

Good work done (Letter to the Editor)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
I agree with Congressman David Price that the Citizen Soldier Program should be reviewed but that the basic program should remain intact (letter, Sept. 29). The Brain Injury Association of NC participated in the development and implementation of the provider training programs, which included military service members who had sustained traumatic brain injuries and/or post traumatic stress syndrome. There were about 18 regional programs coordinated by Bob Goodale and Pheon Beal from the Citizens Soldier Program. (Sandra Farmer, President, Brain Injury Association of NC, Raleigh)

Embattled Ken Lewis to retire as Bank of America's CEO
The Charlotte Observer
Embattled Bank of America chief executive Ken Lewis will leave the Charlotte bank he helped build at the end of this year, stepping aside as he faces mounting pressure from regulators, lawmakers and lawyers probing his Merrill Lynch acquisition. ...Tom Hazen, a UNC Chapel Hill professor who teaches securities law, said it was unusual that Lewis had survived this long. "Ordinarily, it's the CEO who's gonna walk the plank in a case like this," Hazen said.

Obama risks killing world trade softly with his song (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
The Great Recession. Health care reform. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Climate change. Nuclear proliferation. With monumental problems such as these, it's easy to lose sight of the economic harm arising from increasing U.S. trade protectionism. (Peter A. Coclanis is associate provost for international affairs and Albert R. Newsome Professor of History at UNC-Chapel Hill.)

Issues and Trends

Neighbors take part in Night Out
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Rameses, the one that walks on two legs and has a big, horn-tipped head, threw a football, tossed a huge flying disc and hugged bunches of kids Wednesday evening at the annual Night Out. ...Aaron Manning, a UNC senior, and some of his fraternity brothers from Delta Sigma Phi walked through the neighborhood with the other residents, then threw a flying disc with some of the kids, who ran around in long white T-shirts that were given out at the event.
Related Link:
http://www.wchl1360.com/detailswide.html?id=11963

The Curious Case of Courtland Benjamin: Cops Won't Release
Video of Gunned Down Student (Blog)
CBS News.com
A 911 call is supposed to bring help, but University of North Carolina student Courtland Benjamin Smith's desperate call ended in his own death at the hands of police.
Related Link:
http://www.wchl1360.com/detailswide.html?id=11959

A picture still hidden (Editorial)
The News & Record (Greensboro)
A few days after his 21-year-old son was shot and killed by an Archdale police officer on Interstate 85 in Randolph County, Pharr Smith expressed understandable frustration. "We do continue to have faith in the system," he wrote in an e-mail obtained by WRAL-TV of Raleigh. "We just wish some of the balancing facts could be released to give people a clearer picture of how all this unfolded." One clear picture could be provided by police video showing what happened after officers stopped Courtland Benjamin Smith, a UNC-Chapel Hill student, on the morning of Aug. 23.